The Killing Joke
by ruptured-x-me
Summary: Season 2 in a five part series


Doctor Harleen Quinzel stood behind the security guard who pulled out a ring with a series of large keys with it. He inserted one of the keys and unlocked the cell. He reached for the door allowing her to enter the room and closed the cell door behind her.

Harleen's green eyes stared at the man before her, the man who so many feared to face. Who even the prodigy that was Batman had trouble dealing with.

She pulled a chair for herself and sat before a man with pale skin and shocking green hair. How much had the soul that was within him endured to become what he was today?

"So are you ready for today's session?"

A sick smile played upon his lips, "I believe the question is honey, are YOU ready for today's session?"

_"…Now for my last story, I once knew a boy in my high school days. He told me that one day he would become a great writer. Now I, being curious, asked him to define what he meant by 'great' he told me that he wanted to write stuff that the whole world would read, stuff that people will react to on a truly emotional level, stuff that will make them scream, cry, howl in pain and anger!"_

_The room was quiet. Wondering where this was going to._

_"Yeah, he now works for Microsoft, writing error message."_

_The whole crowd erupted into tears of laughter._

_"You've been a great crowd tonight! See you next time."_

_The man approached me, patting my back._

_"I've got them in a good mood for you, good luck."_

_I shook my head nervously and began walking towards the stage. A moment which had caused so much fear within me._

_Uneasily I approached the microphone. My hands were trembling violently. The words of my first joke fumbled out of my mouth._

_"Whensacarnotacar?"_

_"What did he say!?" someone yelled from the large sea in front of me._

_I cleared my throat and mustered all of the little confidence that I had. My heart pounding. Louder._

_"When's a car not a car?"_

_Louder._

_"When it turns into a garage," I breathed. By now, I had lost all control of my hands which were not only shaking but sweating as well now. The crowd didn't react._

_Scared, I turned my head backstage. The manager was staring at me and urging me on. I wouldn't be able to go off without him pushing me back on. I faced back to the stage._

_"Speaking of cars, why did the atoms cross the road?"_

_"So they could die! Just like this act is!"_

_The crowd burst into laughter at the man's outburst. The crowd was harsh that night. I murmured the actual punch line._

_"It was time to split!"_

_Unimpressed the audience began booing me off of the stage. I pushed myself past the backstage manager. I could hear him giving orders. _

_"Where's the next act? Where is he? Get him on stage now!"_

_How could they move on so easily? Why did life have such a harsh approach of functioning?_

_I sat alone in the alleyway behind the club. Slowly it sunk in that I could never be the comedian that I desired to be. I wasn't funny enough. I needed money. I wanted fame._

_Then she came. In her stomach was the child that somehow I was to provide shelter, health and an education. How was I to do any of that with no money?_

_"Hey," she said, "Did you manage to get any money?"_

_If we did have money, if she saw my show, she would have known the failure I truly was._

_"No," I finally blurted out._

_"What? How could you do that?" she began, "we need all the money that we can get, if you're no good as a comedian why can't you just get another job? What do you think this is?" she pointed to her stomach._

_"Stop it! Stop it now!" He yelled in the middle of the alleyway before she could go on any further. "You think, you think that I don't care, that it's all a big joke to me or something. Jeez, you don't know what it's like. I have to go, I have to go and u stand /u up there, and nobody u laughs /u and you think, you think I…"_

_Her hands rested above mines, instantly silencing me. _

_"I'll walk myself home, you come back once you get a hold over yourself," she said wobbling away._

_Little did I know that I was being watched. A few moments after she had left, a body jumped onto the ground in front of me. The fist burned to the concrete. The corpse suddenly raised itself. It wore a suave suit but his face was obscured by a red mask, with a red cape attached to it. _

_In terror, I rose myself up, but I didn't run. Maybe it was because I was hoping that my sorrows could end there. I stood watching as he reached for his pocket and suddenly two other men appeared behind him dressed in similar attire. _

_The red hood gang._

_My brain told me to run, but my heart told me to stay. _

_I stood feet rooted to the ground. Should I run or stay?_

_Before I could decide, the leader pulled out another red hood in one hand and money in the other. _

_My mind couldn't comprehend what was happening. Before I knew it, I placed the hood on top of my head and took the money away from them. They nodded at me and simply said that they'd get back to me. _

_This was it, this was the only way. The only way to win back my wife's love and to provide for my child. This was it. I had chosen my destiny. My first step to being what I am today._

"Shifts over, you can go now."

The guard jerked up from his sleep.

"Hmph, busy day I'm sure."

The guard rubbed his eyes trying to awaken. He lifted himself to his feet and grabbed his jacket. After letting out a yawn he remembered Dr. Quinzel had a session earlier on with the Joker.

"I guess Dr. Quinzel let herself out in that case."

"What?" his replacement asked.

"Dr. Quinzel, she was scheduled for a session with the Joker," he pulled out something from his pocket, "here are the keys."

"I'll go and make sure that clown is alone."

"It's up to you."

The guard headed out of the room and down the hall way. He couldn't wait to go back to sleep. That chair was nothing close to comfortable.

Suddenly, a ringing could be heard and the usual dirt white hall was glowing red, fading and glowing red again.

Voices began raising from the area he had just left, the doors burst open and out ran his replacement.

The alarm was drowning his yells, the guard couldn't make any sense of what he was saying. Once he had reached him, the guard pointed to his ear indicating he couldn't hear him.

His replacement stopped himself and then to the guards horror he mouthed, "the Crown Prince of Crime has escaped!"


End file.
